Counterfeit parts are a multi-billion dollar per year industry. Counterfeit parts not only result in a loss of market share, but can damage the goodwill and image of the company that produces the authentic product. Counterfeit parts that make their way into the supply chain can be difficult to detect, especially when they are electronic or electrical components that have been manufactured into a component such as a circuit board. Counterfeit parts that do not meet manufacturing specifications can cause detects in performance or system failures. In aerospace systems, where such failures can result in a substantial risk of harm to people and property, the rising number of counterfeit parts have forced manufacturers to implement verification and validation programs to identify parts to ensure that system are being manufactured without counterfeit parts. Programs have been developed to ensure that parts are not counterfeit by monitoring parts at specific points in the supply chain together with visual inspection and other part identification methods during or post manufacturing. For example, current solutions involve humans manually inspecting components and subjecting samples of the articles to various chemical and destructive and non-destructive testing methodologies to verify authenticity, or performing electrical performance testing criteria on parts to see if the parts perform to the specification standards or within the tolerance requirements.
These testing methods, however, do not ensure with 100% reliability that a counterfeit part has not been used in a finished component. Manual testing, visual inspection, acoustic testing, and chemical analysis methods, to name a few, can be overcome by counterfeiting. These tests generally look at the external components or the ability of the encasement of a microchip to withstand the washing agents. Electrical performance testing criteria do not ensure the authenticity of the component because they only verify that the outputs of the component or system are correct. An adept counterfeiter, however, can mask the origins or identity of the item, for example by “blacktopping”. Blacktopping involves removing a top portion of a casement from an electrical component, for example a chip, and replacing that top portion with material and the design of an authentic part. These blacktopped parts can then be passed off as components identical to the authentic part. For example, chips from a batch that failed testing can be blacktopped, the top portion replaced with designations from another batch that passed testing, and then reinserted back into the supply chain.
Further, the inspection or analytical programs to detect counterfeiting are not cost effective. The programs place a burden on sub-tier suppliers to verify the identity of articles. But the sub-tier suppliers are under tight fiscal and time constraints and detailed examination of every part is costly and time consuming. Destructive testing adds further adds to overall costs in both time and material and not every part can be destructively tested. This leads to opportunities for counterfeit parts to enter the supply chain.
Therefore, there is a need for a cost effective way of ensuring that counterfeit parts do not enter the supply chain or become parts used in manufactured goods. It is desirable that a system and method for detecting counterfeit parts be adaptable to test and authenticate parts at various points of the supply chain or manufacturing processes. It is also desirable that the system and method for detecting counterfeit parts be adaptable to testing both individual parts and parts that have already been assembled into sub-assemblies or finished goods. It is further desirable that the system and method for detecting counterfeit parts be capable of testing parts in a non-destructive manner, thereby enabling every part to be tested and authenticated.